


Hazards

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [50]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Fix-It, Gen, Plans, Vampire Family, Violence, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-02-08 12:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1941915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night's plan gets fast derailed by a gang of Billith's followers showing up to do mischief in Bon Temps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hazards

**Author's Note:**

> Part three, "Fire."

The plan, such as it was, had been to turn attentions to Shreveport tonight, deal with New Orleans proper tomorrow.  Rumor (which is to say online news sources, the addled reports that Ginger calls in at least once a night, and something that Willa heard from Mallory who heard from her sister Amarie who lives in Shreveport) has it that over the last couple of nights, the vampire gangs that have been terrorizing New Orleans have started to migrate to other metropolitan areas.

“Or multiply,” Nora had muttered grimly.

“That’s a cheery thought,” Tara had replied, which of course means that it’s a rather reasonable one since nothing in their damn lives can ever just be straightforward.

They had planned to make their way to Shreveport and deal with these gangs, sort of another warm-up for the big show that would be taking down Billith mixed with a need to do right by the city that had been at least sort of home sometimes for some of the group and hopefully would be again. And that’s the plan that sees them all packing up and getting ready that night, heading into the car (Eric drives, Nora gets shotgun – “is anyone else ever gonna get shotgun?” Tara snarks, and Eric flashes a cocky smile and says, “Not if I’m driving” – the others position themselves in the middle and back seats).

“It makes sense he’d be draggin’ his lackeys up to Shreveport next,” Pam observes all wryly, reclining against the seat.

“Yes,” Nora agrees with a shrug, turning to nod at her niece, “if there’s a gang in New Orleans working their way up and a gang in Shreveport working their way down they can, in theory, gradually terrorize the state and meet in the middle.”

“Not what I meant,” Pam drawls.  “Shreveport’s _ours_.”  Hers and Eric’s, she means mostly, which everyone understands.  “And that asshole just loves to come in and piss on what he thinks oughta be his property.”

Nora frowns.  “I’m not sure that’s…”

“Believe me,” Eric interjects, “It really is. Symbolic territory.”

“Because a barkeep is such a pillar of the community,” Nora says, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t be a snob,” Eric retorts. “We were a damn sight more important to a lot of the vampires – and humans – in the area than, say, their government was. Besides, sister, you’re forgetting my other title.”

“Not to nitpick, but as a sheriff, didn’t you answer to the monarchs anyhow?” Nora asks.

“ _Sheriff_ ,” Tara crows from the backseat. “That’s never gettin' old.”

“Remind me to ask one of y’all to explain this government shit to me when we have time,” Willa whispers to Jessica, wrinkling her nose.

The siblings seem about to keep arguing, neither of them really meaning it but both of them finding it practically instinct to sling insults at each other (Eric with his eyebrow raised and that smirk etched onto his face seemingly permanently, Nora licking her red-painted lips and fiddling with her necklace and her hands), but it fades into background noise when Tara’s phone buzzes again and she turns her attention to the words on the screen.

“Guys,” she says warily.

“Anyway, I think we all know that you and pre-godthing Bill were engaged in some sort of game of _whose dick is bigger_ ,” Nora is nonchalantly saying.

“Metaphorically,” Eric smirks. “I think you know the answer to the question for true.”

“Hey guys,” Tara says a little louder.

“How could I compare, _I’ve_ never seen Bill Compton’s penis,” Nora replies airily. “Unlike some of us here.”

“Uh, like exactly one of us, who is Eric,” Jessica interjects, looking horrified, “and could we pretty please stop talkin’ about my Maker’s junk?”

“ _Hey assholes_ ,” Tara shouts. “Stop all this schoolyard bullshit and listen up. Sookie says there’s vampires showin’ up in Bon Temps tonight.”

Naturally, that gets everyone’s attention, but Nora speaks up first. “Billith’s gang?” she asks.

“Well, they ain’t locals, and they’re apparently on the hunt,” Tara shrugs. “Andy and Jason and the rest of the officers are workin’ to keep it contained, but –”

“Looks like we’ve got a new mission,” Pam declares.

 

* * *

 

They meet at Merlotte’s like they planned, only this time it might be their only destination for the evening. Nobody was coming in much anyway, except the Bellefleur girls, so Sam’s got the restaurant closed until further notice – the fact that it makes a solid headquarters is just an added benefit.

Of course, this also means that the doors aren’t just open for anyone to wander through, so once the vampires arrive and speed up, there’s a fair amount of knocking and shouting, “It’s us out here” and the like.

It’s Danika who opens the door, offering polite hellos before scurrying back over to her sisters’ table, but it’s the fact that the girls are waiting at a table that gives Eric pause. “Now, now, girls,” he chides. “On your feet. We’ve got a band of vigilante vampires to track down.”

“Okay!” Charlaine exclaims. “Daddy gave us the go-ahead.”

“Charming,” Pam mutters, eyeing Charlaine and Braelyn skeptically as they prance over to her.

From their new places next to Tara, Adilyn and Danika nod in unison. “Let’s go,” they chorus.

“We’ll lock up behind you,” Sam offers, gesturing to himself and Luna and Lafayette.

“And we’ve all got our phones, so if you need anything, one of us can be there,” Luna adds.

“One of _them_ ,” Lafayette amends drolly. “I’m hopin’ none of y’all need to talk to a motherfuckin’ ghost while you’re out there, and that’s all I’s gonna be good for.”

It falls to Sookie, since she’s actually friendly with all three of their current home-base players, to give the parting words, but that doesn’t take long and then they’re all out the door and into the night.

 

* * *

 

“I didn’t realize there was gonna be this much wanderin’ around,” Braelyn stage-whispers.

“Us sneakin’ up on them instead of the other way around ain’t a bad thing,” Willa points out.

“And nobody’s gonna be doin’ _anything_ sneaky less you zip it,” Pam concludes, causing the girls to smile sheepishly and shut their mouths.

It’s kind of ridiculous given that Bon Temps is not even slightly a large town, but they’ve been wandering with no sign of the apparent minor villains for near twenty minutes. The lights of almost every home they pass are out and there are almost no cars on the road, which Sookie points out means that the warning system the sheriffs set up is actually sort of working, probably.

The babies are starting to get twitchy and Eric is getting twitchier, dangerously near to trigger-happy, when Nora stops still and thwacks him in the arm, holds a finger to her lips.

Rustling. “Is that what he was talking about?” they hear a strange voice ask, male and vaguely Cajun.

“That smell?” asks another, this one a woman.

“Shit,” Tara and Sookie mouth at each other.

And before anyone can do anything about it, a group of vampires comes at them from the side, growling. “He said there were abominations around here,” the woman they’d heard murmurs, her eyes wide as she regards the Bellefleur girls (paired up as promised, buddied up as promised, and all of them clutching weapons nervously).

Impulsively, Charlaine fires a blast of light at the stranger, grabs at Braelyn’s hand with the other. “Get the fuck back,” she says shakily, but all the strange woman does is laugh and begin to circle them.

“Are they yours?” the man asks Eric. “The horrors. Do they taste sweet?”

Eric folds his arms, unimpressed. “Why would you care?” he mutters. “If you can’t taste them because your religion forbids it, does it matter what they taste like?”

“So they _do_ ,” the man says. “Pity, then.”

Adilyn and Danika exchange looks before Danika raises her gun, fires a bullet into the heart of one of the hanger-on vampires and doesn’t even blink at the explosion of their body. Their resistance group means business, is what she intends to say.

And from that moment it’s a full-on battle. Tara takes out a pair of yellow-headed twin vamps, Willa tosses a stake at the heart of the woman who’d been speaking, Nora tears off one’s head and then helps Jessica do the same to another. Eric and Pam are busy taking on the man, the little ringleader, Sookie’s blasting as much light as she can muster.

But given that it happens in the span of a few seconds, nobody’s able to stop the vampires who wrench the girls’ guns from their hands.

“That’s the pity,” the ringleader announces, causing Eric and Pam’s attentions to shift to the scene behind them, the four girls surrounded and looking terrified. “He sent us to find and root out abnormalities, and here you’ve been hoarding them.”

“Girls,” Eric yells, and they all hold up their hands, send light shooting at their assailants.

But not before four bullets are shot at four young girls.


End file.
